1.Artchbishop Sentamu Academy Kingston upon Hull

• Engaging with parents and students through online tasks, forms and satisfaction surveys

Date 2. Background

New Academy (BSF) in 2009

New site, new students, new sixth form, new IT strategy

Significant levels of social deprivation - 47% FSM

Strong community cohesion and parental engagement

90% walk to school

100 minute lessons - Site IT provision 5 PC suites and 7 trolleys

3. Since 2009...

Implemented a school wide VLE with Frog

Built a new external website with links back into the VLE

Created a VLE presence for all departments

Created an online homework programme for lower school

Launched a new Sixth Form

Planned a new school building for growth: 1000 aiming for 1500

Planned a full migration to Apple as a preferred platform (2011)

4. Challenges...

Limited access to IT resources within the timetable

Limited access to IT resources beyond the school day

Low levels of literacy for many students when transferring

50% of homes not accessing broadband

Students shifting to smart phone technology for web access

Curriculum at KS4 promotes coursework for supervised completion

Homework culture not embedded

5. Key aims - promoting independent learning, raising literacy, engaging with parents

Why?

Knock-on effect for the wider development of the student

Better access to the curriculum in all subjects

Life-skills and preparation for next stages

Raising the profile to learning in the wider community

Signalling a step-change in goals and operations of the Academy

Bringing parents in the homework process.

6. Why Frog?

Shallow learning curve for teachers - half a CPD day.

Template/module driven development - easy to scale up

Total control of content - text, image, video, links, feeds, forms

Feedback is instant - students see their score. They can try again.

Marking can be automated through the question types

Data retrieval is built into Frog (as a reporting widget)

Frog can personalise pages using the users data - name etc

7. Extra Mile 8. Navigation... 9. What students see...

Text

Image

Embedded Video

Link to Media

Questions

Space for free text responses

10. What do the questions look like? 11. What about feedback? 12. How does the teacher see results?

A table of data

A markbook made with simple tools!

Sortable data

Exportable

Real time access to results

Capable of being displayed to the student - or all students!!!

13. How does the teacher see results? 14. The impact...

High return rate within the pilot user group (Yrs 7 - 9) - 40%

High rate of pilot user satisfaction when surveyed - 75%

Parents ringing school to check the VLE link

Technical and performance testing proves system to be robust

Migration of parental surveys and option choices to Frog

Confidence amongst the SLT in effectiveness of reaching connected families

Tested systems for Options, Parent Satisfaction, IT Skills, Extended Day Survey.

15. Ongoing challenges...

Un-connected families and the digital divide. Some will not engage.

Administrative teams work to well-established data collection programmes.Paperwork is labour intensive and preserves jobs.

Quality control of text - teachers vary!

Multiple-choice question formulation is a science - and an art.

Assessment and reporting schedules may not support regular weekly on-line homework

Literacy is sometimes seen as a matter for English teachers!

16. Responses to challenges. What schools need to consider.

Raising literacy is vital for all subjects - can homework help?

Students appreciate instant feedback.

Automated marking leaves time for teacher to do better things.

Connection with parents and students can be in libraries or school foyers - not necessarily in the home.

Parents and students could be offered more regular access to grades.

Multiple choice is a valid mechanism for eliciting responses and surveying opinion or satisfaction BUT ...

17. 14 Rules for Multiple Choice Forms

1. Use Plausible Distractors (wrong-response options)

2. Use a Question Format

3. Emphasize Higher-Level Thinking

Memory, Application of Knowledge, Interpretation of Evidence, identification of Cause-and-Effect, Inference and Deduction, Contextualisation, Empathy, Justification of Methods and Procedures

4. Keep Option Lengths Similar

7. Avoid Clues to the Correct Answer

8. Avoid Negative Questions

18. 14 Rules for Multiple Choice Forms

9. Use Only One Correct Option (Or be sure the best option is clearly the best option)

10. Give Clear Instructions

11. Use Only a Single, Clearly-Defined Problem and Include the Main Idea in the Question

12. Avoid the All the Above Option

13. Avoid the None of the Above Option

14. Dont Use MC Questions When Other Item Types Are More Appropriate

19. Engaging parents through the use of meta-questions

How many minutes did spend on this homework?

Did he/she ask for help?

How easy (1-10) did you find the homework as a parent?

Which question was the hardest? Easiest?

Which word in the text needed the most explanation with your child?

Please make up one more question which would test your childs understanding

20. Technical 21. So what did we learn?

You cannot change a learning culture piecemeal...think big!

The championing of technology must come from the top!

Teachers need to be incentivized to change behaviours as much as students

VLE provide an increasingly robust vehicle for family engagament

On-line forms offer significant cost and time saving solutions for organisations with many potentially active stakeholders.

Some families may never engage on-line at home - seek other ways!

22. So where next for Frog champions?

Develop a whole-school approach to on-line engagement.

Use VLE as the default communication channel not an option b)

Encourage joined up thinking about paper based administration

Raise the status of multiple choice questions they can challenge!

Recognise the importance of the developer role think status!

Engage with subject leaders to agree protocols

Put parent and child together when developing on-line engagement